Digital BW, The Print

Roger,

Thank you. Your comparison of the Phase One 22 megapixel backs and drum scanned 4x5 is exactly what I've heard; not quite there, yet, but getting damn close! And, as you said, when you figure in other considerations a P25 starts to look REALLY attractive. If it weren't for that $30K price tag!

Alan Huntley

> 
> From: Roger Howard <rogerhoward@...>
> Date: 2004/12/09 Thu PM 01:14:16 EST
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Digital camera again
> 
> 
> 
> On Dec 9, 2004, at 5:53 AM, Alan.Huntley@... wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hi Steve,
> >
> > Hope Clayton doesn't mind my jumping in on this discussion, too...
> >
> > Yes, sensors do display a linear response to incoming light, but that 
> > response is more like negative film than slide film. Additionally, 
> > because the sensor doesn't have a "toe" or "shoulder" to its 
> > "characteristic curve" you actually realize better results on both 
> > ends. I'm not sure about the prosumer cameras like the Canon Pro1, but 
> > with high-end equipment like the Phase One P25 back, Betterlight scan 
> > back, and probably the new Canon 1Ds you're looking at 10 - 12 stops 
> > of dynamic range. Throw in the fact that you have very clean images to 
> > work with (no grain, etc) and our old measurement factors start to 
> > crumble. FYI, from what I've read the new Phase One P25 back (22 
> > megapixels) is seriously challenging drum scanned 4x5! I don't know 
> > this for fact because I don't own one, but it certainly gives us an 
> > idea of where this technology is header. Hopefully, someday this 
> > top-o-line equipment will be affordable to the average consumer.
> 
> I can say, we've been for years shooting 4x5 in a museum studio and 
> drum scanning on a series of high-end drums. I would definitely say 
> that in many cases the Betterlight scan backs deliver results far 
> superior to the scanning process, but the scan backs aren't always 
> convenient. We've recently (this year) began to do most of the work on 
> the MF backs, including the H20, H25, and P25. While I wouldn't say the 
> quality blows away drum-scanned 4x5 - or even meets it - the 
> convenience and costs ultimately led us down that path for almost all 
> of our work short of really large paintings. The MF backs deliver more 
> than enough quality/resolution for almost all of our work, though I 
> still wouldn't really compare it directly to really good scans off a 
> really good 4x5. YMMV